Ford Raptors + Michigan’s Upper Peninsula = One Heck of a Time

Sculpted sheet metal, precisely engineered engines, and expertly tuned suspensions. The technological mastery behind the Ford Raptor is in many ways, equal to that of an Italian sports car. Although in some manners, even more advanced, as a sports car must only tackle a race track, but a Raptor must face unknown terrain in abominable conditions.

Abominable conditions are exactly what these Ford Raptor owners encountered during the 2016 SnoBall Raptor Run, in none other than the frigid and snow-dumped Michigan Upper Peninsula. Because even though Ford engineers put their trucks through the most rigorous testing scenarios across the globe, it’s these type of owners that generate the most valuable post-production data for Ford—and they don’t have to pay for it!

The SnoBall Raptor Run consists of 850 miles of roads that vary from plowed, to snowy, to flat out treacherous and classified as un-drivable for most street-legal vehicles—but not the Raptor. As you can see on the video, Ford’s clever Baja racing-suspension adapts extremely well to the plush snow, and even it creates grip where most suspension systems would simply prove too stiff to gain traction.

This awesome and challenging event had its start back in 2013, and has consistently grown in popularity as well as attendance through the years, which means that every year there are more and more crazy Raptor drivers willing to endure sub-zero temperatures for no other reason than to push their badass trucks to the max.